2018 Session Recap: Clean Energy Jobs is Unfinished Business

It’s over! We finished the 2018 session and it was not easy. You helped us fight hard for Clean Energy Jobs, including showing up to the biggest Lobby Day we’ve ever had – and legislators noticed. Time and again, when we’ve asked you to help us pass Clean Energy Jobs you responded with a resounding “Yes,” but despite our efforts, that wasn’t the message we heard from enough legislators.

Clean Energy Jobs was ready to pass in 2018, and we’re disappointed it didn’t.

However, we’ve succeeded in securing the strongest commitment we’ve seen yet from leadership in Salem. Senate President Peter Courtney and House Speaker Tina Kotek have convened a Joint Committee on Carbon Reduction, with bipartisan legislators from each chamber who have pledged to finish the work on cap and invest in 2019.

The end result? We’re still on track to have this program implemented by 2021, as planned.

Speaker Kotek has been a leader on this issue the whole time, and now that we have Senate President Courtney on board, although the bill didn’t pass, we made progress and didn’t lose any ground. Senate President Courtney said, “I’ve told everybody, we’re going to do this in ‘19 or don’t bother coming.”

Let’s make sure they hold to their word. Tell your legislator you demand they tackle Clean Energy Jobs first in 2019 by filling out the form below.

Governor Kate Brown’s administration will create a new Carbon Policy Office to continue analysis and research that was called for in the Clean Energy Jobs bill. The office will help lawmakers make informed decisions in 2019 and be ready to support Oregon’s cap and invest program. There’s also been more investment in the Department of Environmental Quality which is crucial to lay the groundwork necessary to implement this program in 2021. It’s the same timeline we’ve always been working on, we didn’t lose any ground and we now have the Senate President’s buy-in.

It’s because of your support that we now have the support of so many more. Tell your legislator today to pass Clean Energy Jobs in 2019.